The gaps between the teams at international level are becoming ever smaller: Daniele De Rossi ahead of Monday's World Cup draw

Coming up on Monday is the UEFA preliminary draw for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

FIFA's acting Director of Competitions Jaime Yarza will conduct the draw with help from Italian 2006 World Cup winner Daniele De Rossi and Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart.

"Playing at the FIFA World Cup and lifting that iconic trophy is every footballer's dream,” said De Rossi ahead of the draw that will take place in Zurich.\

“On Monday, that dream will become a little more real as all 55 European teams learn their fate on the road to the FIFA World Cup 2022.

"I think that qualification for Qatar will be a tough task. As we have seen in recent years, the gaps between the teams at international level are becoming ever smaller."

Van der Vaart, who was capped 109 times for the Netherlands expects “an exciting race for the 13 European FIFA World Cup spots and, from my own experience, I know what it means when the most iconic tournament in world football begins to take shape.”

We have done an explainer below for the draw which is a who, what, what and how about the event.

We've got you covered on all the pot and who Ireland might face plus if you want the low down on the constraints on travel distance, winter conditions and prohibited country clashes plus bonus mention of the UEFA Nations League please read on.

World Cup Qatar 2020 UEFA qualification explainer https://t.co/fdmpiQSXAEpic.twitter.com/W9TvYEKSJ8

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) November 29, 2020